# Omar Tawakol

> Omar Tawakol is a serial entrepreneur and AI advertising pioneer who turned audience data, voice AI, and now spatially-aware AI into three consecutive company exits. He founded BlueKai (acquired by Oracle for $400M+), Voicea (acquired by Cisco), and currently leads Rembrand, an AI-powered virtual product placement platform that embeds brands invisibly into video content. He holds board seats at The Trade Desk and LiveRamp, and in 2025 merged Rembrand with Spaceback to build an AI-powered ad factory that reaches across CTV, digital video, and display.

- **Role:** CEO & Co-Founder at Rembrand
- **Organizations:** Rembrand, The Trade Desk (board), LiveRamp (board), Decibel VC (founder advisor)
- **From:** Cairo, Egypt
- **Nationality:** Egyptian-American
- **Education:** B.S. in Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, M.S. in Industrial Engineering, Stanford University, M.S. in Computer Science, Stanford University
- **Known for:** Co-founded BlueKai, acquired by Oracle for over $400 million in 2014 - a 10x net revenue multiple, Built BlueKai into the category-defining Data Management Platform (DMP) for Fortune 100 marketers, Co-founded Voicea, acquired by Cisco in 2019; platform used by employees in 10,000+ companies

## Career timeline

- **1986-1990** — Studied Engineering at MIT
- **1994-1996** — Two master's degrees at Stanford in Industrial Engineering and Computer Science; published AI research with the American Association of Artificial Intelligence
- **1996-2000** — Early tech roles at Navio (Netscape spin-off) and Informatica; CMO/GM at Audience Science (Revenue Science), specializing in behavioral targeting
- **2001** — Founded CoRelation, a recommendation engine for retailers including Barnes & Noble and Nordstrom; acquired by Audience Science in 2002
- **2004-2007** — Chief Advertising Officer at Medio Systems (acquired by Nokia)
- **2008** — Co-founded BlueKai with Grant Ries, Mike Bigby, and Alexander Hooshmand; built the first real-time data auction for audience targeting
- **2014** — Oracle acquired BlueKai for over $400 million; Tawakol became SVP and GM of Oracle Data Cloud
- **2017** — Left Oracle to co-found Voicea, an AI-powered voice platform for meeting transcription and summaries
- **2019** — Cisco acquired Voicea; Tawakol became GM of Product-Led Growth for Webex at Cisco
- **2020** — Joined Decibel VC as Founder Advisor
- **2021** — Joined LiveRamp (NYSE: RAMP) board of directors
- **2022** — Left Cisco to co-found Rembrand, pioneering AI-driven virtual product placement in video
- **2023** — Rembrand launched publicly with $9M seed funding from Greycroft, UTA, L'Oreal, and Good Friends; L'Oreal's VC fund backed the company
- **2025-01** — Rembrand raised $23M Series A
- **2025-07** — Rembrand acquired Mirriad's US operations
- **2025-08** — Appointed to The Trade Desk (Nasdaq: TTD) board of directors
- **2025-09** — Rembrand announced merger with Spaceback to form AI-powered 'Ad Factory'; combined company employs 75+ people

## Achievements

- Co-founded BlueKai, acquired by Oracle for over $400 million in 2014 - a 10x net revenue multiple
- Built BlueKai into the category-defining Data Management Platform (DMP) for Fortune 100 marketers
- Co-founded Voicea, acquired by Cisco in 2019; platform used by employees in 10,000+ companies
- Raised $31M in total funding for Rembrand including a $23M Series A in 2025
- Secured L'Oreal's VC fund and major entertainment/media investors for Rembrand
- Board director at The Trade Desk (Nasdaq: TTD), one of the world's largest independent DSPs
- Board director at LiveRamp (NYSE: RAMP), a data connectivity leader
- Published AI research in the American Association of Artificial Intelligence while at Stanford
- Led Rembrand to acquire Mirriad's US operations and merge with Spaceback in 2025
- Built Rembrand into a leader in the $23 billion programmatic product placement market

## Latest updates

- **2025-09** — Rembrand announced merger with Spaceback to create an AI-powered 'Ad Factory' combining in-content advertising with social content automation; combined entity employs 75+ people
- **2025-08** — Appointed to The Trade Desk (Nasdaq: TTD) board of directors alongside continued service on LiveRamp board
- **2025-07** — Rembrand acquired Mirriad's US operations to expand virtual product placement capabilities
- **2025-01** — Rembrand closed $23M Series A funding round
- **2023-02** — Rembrand launched publicly with $9M seed funding from Greycroft, UTA, L'Oreal's BOLD Ventures, and Good Friends

## Links

- Website: https://rembrand.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omartawakol
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/otawakol
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/omartawakol/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/omar.tawakol/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/omar-tawakol
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-11